It has come! The Ledger Nano S, which is the most popular hardware wallet on the market, now has a follow-up. The new model is called Ledger Nano S Plus, and it will have a few small changes that will make it better. But can he build on what his predecessor did well? And what is he really able to do? More in this review of the Ledger Nano S Plus!
Ledger Nano S Plus review at a glance
Ledger Nano S Plus is a hardware wallet of the French company Ledger SAS. The wallet is available from 2022, costs around 2,100 crowns, and replaces the original Ledger Nano S model from 2016. The main advantage of the new model is the larger screen and more memory.
Using Ledger is simple – you first connect the wallet to your computer with a USB cable and enter your PIN. You enter payment data via the Ledger Live app (available for PC or Android smartphones) and finally confirm the transaction with a button directly on Ledger. Ledger Nano S Plus supports more than 5,500 cryptocurrencies and tokens. Among them, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot or Monero. The wallet can also store NFT or ERC-20-type tokens.
You can have multiple accounts for each cryptocurrency in Ledger, but they will all be backed up with the same origin (i.e. a sentence consisting of 24 English words). If you want separate accounts, you must assign each account an additional password (password), which is basically from the 25th seed.
Advantages:
- A secure crypto wallet
- It supports hundreds of cryptocurrencies
- Great price-performance ratio
- Miniature dimensions
Disadvantages:
- The Ledger Nano S Plus Live application does not have Czech
- Cannot be controlled via iPhones
- Non-public source code
The Ledger Nano S Plus – Basic Information
The Ledger Nano S Plus is a hardware wallet published by Ledger Nano S Plus SAS in 2022, which supports over 5,500 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC20 tokens, and Litecoin, and is a cold wallet with offline storage. The wallet management is non-custodial, and it offers seed and optional password backup, secure access with a PIN, and control through two mechanical buttons. The wallet connects to a PC through USB-C and is priced at approximately 2,100 CZK.
Basic overview
How does a hardware wallet work? A hardware wallet is a small device used to store cryptocurrency (or private keys). Hardware wallets are the safest way to store cryptocurrencies, but they are also the most expensive.
The French company Ledger Nano S Plus SAS makes the Ledger Nano S Plus hardware wallet. The wallet has been on the market since 2022, and it replaces the original Ledger Nano S model from 2016.
The best thing about the Ledger Nano S Plus is how well it balances price and performance. The wallet costs about 2,000 crowns, but it is just as safe as the premium Ledger Nano X model, which costs four times as much.
To send cryptocurrency, connect Ledger Nano S Plus to your computer with a USB-C cable and use the Ledger Live app to enter the recipient’s address and the amount you want to send. You finally confirm the transaction on the Ledger with a button.
SUPPORTED CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Ledger Nano S Plus works with more than 5,500 coins and tokens, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Cardano, Polkadot, Solana, and Monero. On the wallet, you can also store ERC20 tokens (like USDT, USDC, and DAI stablecoins), BEP20 tokens (like BNB), and popular NFT tokens.
On the official website, under the tab Supported crypto, you can find a list of all the cryptocurrencies that are supported.
PACKAGE CONTENTS
The wallet comes with a USB-C/USB-A cable, a key ring, stickers, and three cards that can be used to enter the seed. The package also has instructions written in several (unfortunately foreign) languages.
PROCESSING AND TECHNICAL PARAMETERS
At first glance, the thing looks like a normal flash because it is small and light. On the front, there is a black-and-white display that can be hidden by a steel frame. On the sides, there are two physical buttons and a USB-C port.
The wallet’s body is made of plastic, but the steel frame gives the Ledger Nano S Plus an appearance of strength and durability. But the device isn’t waterproof and doesn’t have a higher resistance to damage from physical forces.
LEDGER LIVE
You will need a special app to run Ledger in order to use the wallet. You can use either the official Ledger Nano S Plus Live app or an app made by someone else ( MyCrypto, MyEtherWallet, Electrum, etc.).
You can put Ledger Nano S Plus Live on your Windows, Linux, or macOS computer or your Android phone. But if you want to use the mobile app, you have to buy an OTG adapter to link your wallet to your phone (only the cable for connecting the wallet and the computer is part of the package).
Ledger Live is also available for iPhones, but it can only talk to other devices through Bluetooth (which only the more expensive Ledger Nano X or Ledger Stax models can do ).
Where to buy Nano S Plus
The Nano S Plus wallet can be bought from the official website ledger.com or from the online stores of authorized sellers ( Alza.cz or CZC in the Czech Republic).
BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!
Be wary of hardware wallets sold by people who are not authorized. Wallets may have firmware that has been changed or may be fake.
The new wallet MUST come in a box that is not broken and is wrapped in foil.
The bad thing about the Ledger Nano S Plus is that it doesn’t have any security stickers that you can use to make sure the package is still whole. For instance, other Trezor wallets have holographic stickers on the box and on the device itself that can’t be put back together.
If you buy a used Ledger Nano S Plus , you should make sure that the device is real and that the firmware is real. Don’t send crypto to a wallet that was made by the original owner. Reset the device and make a new wallet with a new seed before you use it.
Wallet security
The safest way to store cryptocurrencies is in a hardware wallet. They have four main traits:
- Non-custodial wallet: The user is in charge of and has full control over his cryptocurrencies. The person who made the wallet or an administrator can’t get to the coins, so they can’t be lost, stolen, or blocked.
- Offline wallet: The device has its own processor that makes new wallets and confirms transactions. So, all private information is made and kept in the Ledger. Even if you connect Ledger Nano S Plus to a computer or phone that already has a virus, the data will still be safe.
- Secure Transactions: You have to push buttons on the Ledger Nano S Plus itself to send cryptocurrency. This means that you can’t send cryptocurrencies if you don’t have the device with you.
- Access is safe because, like smartphones, hardware wallets are locked with a PIN. So even if you lose the Ledger Nano S Plus , no one else can use it. Also, it’s almost impossible to guess the PIN because the device resets itself after 3 wrong tries.
WALLET BACKUP AND RESTORE
After the first launch, you will be able to choose whether to make a new wallet or use a seed to restore an old wallet.
What do seeds do? A seed is a unique phrase of 12 to 24 English words that the wallet uses to make addresses and private keys for the cryptocurrency. If you lose your Ledger, break it, or reset it, you can use the seed to get it back.
When you make a new wallet, Ledger will come up with and show you 24 English words (the so-called recovery seed). You must write down these words and their order on paper and hide it well.
Organize your wallet and accounts
We already said that Ledger works with more than 5,500 cryptocurrencies and tokens. But now we’ll look at how many wallets the Ledger can hold and how they are set up.
STORE UP TO 100 APPS (CRYPTOCURRENCY)
Ledger needs to be “installed” with each cryptocurrency you want to use. To be more specific, you need to install an app that lets you send and receive that cryptocurrency.
Each cryptocurrency has a different use. So, if you want to use, for example, BTC and ETH, you need to install the Bitcoin and Ethereum apps in Ledger. The application is set up through the Ledger Live program (tab Manager).
You can install up to 100 apps for up to 100 different types of cryptocurrency. This is a big improvement over the first Nano S model, which could only run up to six apps because it had so little storage.
If your storage is full and you need to add another app, just temporarily uninstall one of the older ones. You won’t lose that cryptocurrency, but while the app is uninstalled, you won’t be able to send or receive cryptocurrency.
CRYPTOCURRENCY ACCOUNTS
Using the Ledger Live app, you can set up accounts to store individual cryptocurrencies (tab Accounts).
You can also make more than one account for a single cryptocurrency, like 5 bitcoin accounts. But watch out, because these accounts are tied together. These aren’t two different wallets!
HIDDEN WALLETS WITH PASSPHRASE
Only one seed can be used with Ledger. So, if someone steals your seed, they can access ALL of the cryptocurrencies and accounts you have in the Ledger. But you can avoid it. With an extra password, users can make hidden wallets (passphrases).
You can make as many hidden wallets as you want with different passwords (Set temporary Passphrase). Just keep in mind that you have to type in the whole password every time you want to use one of these wallets.
But you can give one hidden wallet your own PIN (Passphrase). Attach the PIN to the wallet so that you can quickly open it. The device will then have 2 separate wallets:
- The first wallet (access via original PIN, recovery via seed)
- A hidden wallet that you can get to with a secondary PIN and get back with a seed and passphrase.
A password can have up to 100 letters, numbers, or special characters. Trezor hardware wallets, on the other hand, only allow 50 characters.
How to use Ledger Nano S Plus
How to take charge of Ledger? You can move through the menu or switch characters by pressing the right or left button (e.g. when entering a PIN). To confirm the choice, press both buttons at the same time.
You have to set up the wallet before you can use it for the first time. This takes about 30 minutes. Set a PIN, copy the seed, install apps, and make an account for each cryptocurrency you want to use. In the article “Ledger Nano S Plus instructions,” we went over all of the steps in detail.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SEND CRYPTOCURRENCIES TO THE LEDGER
- Start the management program (in our case, Ledger Live), connect the Ledger to the computer, and enter the PIN.
- Open the tab under Ledger Live > Receive.
- Choose the account you want to send your cryptocurrency to ( Account to credit).
- On the Ledger’s screen, look for the app (or crypto currency) you want and confirm it by pressing both buttons at the same time.
- The address of the person who is getting the money will be shown in the Ledger Live app and on the Ledger screen.
- Check to see if the address in the app is the same as the one on the Ledger display (an infected computer may display a different address).
- If the addresses are the same, press both buttons on the Ledger at the same time to confirm them. You can now copy the address and send crypto to it.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SEND CRYPTOCURRENCIES FROM LEDGER TO ANOTHER WALLET
- Start the management program (in our case, Ledger Live), connect the Ledger to the computer, and enter the PIN.
- Choose the Send option in the application.
- Choose the account you want to send money from (Account to debit) and enter the address of the person you want to send money to ( Recipient address).
- Type in how much you want to send ( Amount). You can also change the size of the transaction fee if you want to ( Fees). Click on the button Continue to move on.
- Look over the order summary, and then click the Continue button. Find the app (or crypto currency) you want to use on Ledger and open it by pressing both buttons at the same time.
- On the Ledger display, you can see the amount to be sent, the address of the person who will receive it, and the fee. If the numbers match, click both buttons at the same time to confirm the transaction.
- The transaction will be confirmed by Ledger in a few seconds, and you’ll be done.
Experience with Nano S Plus
Ledger is a well-known and large company that makes hardware wallets. Since the company started in 2016, it has sold more than 5 million hardware wallets, while its competitor, Trezor, has sold “only” 1 million.
But Ledger is much worse than Trezor in one important way.
All hardware wallets made by Ledger are closed-source. This means that the firmware is not open to the public and users can’t see it. So, there is no way to check how the Ledgers work or make sure they don’t have critical mistakes. Also, if such bugs do happen, the public might not know about them (unless hackers or the manufacturer discloses the information).
Ledgers are not clear, so users have to trust the person who made them. And this is a big problem in a segment that is all about spreading power out.
The good news is that hackers have not broken into Ledgers’ security (yet). But in 2020, they stole delivery information from almost 280,000 clients (names, addresses, emails).
USER EXPERIENCE
The wallet is a bit harder to set up and use, and you need to know English to do so. But it’s not hard because Ledger will guide you through each step and explain it clearly.
Ledger doesn’t highlight the key passphrase feature, which is a shame. Many users don’t know that there is something called a passphrase or that they should use it for their own good.
The official Ledger Live app is definitely the best thing about Ledger. The app is easy to use, works with a large number of cryptocurrencies and is completely open-source. The only possible downside is that neither transactions nor individual UTXOs can be named in the application to make things easier to find. There are also no ways to hide your identity in the app, like connecting through Tor or mixing coins (CoinJoin).
Ledger Nano S Plus review summary
The Ledger Nano S Plus is a great choice if you want a reliable hardware wallet that doesn’t cost too much.
Ledger works with thousands of cryptocurrencies, is easy to use, and doesn’t stand out, so it won’t attract unwanted attention. A chip with CC EAL5+ certification ensures security. This chip is also in the 3x more expensive Ledger Stax.
But be careful of these two things!
Neither Ledger nor the Ledger Live app is available in Czech, so users must be able to speak English. If you think you might have trouble with English, the SatoshiLabs Trezor One hardware wallet is a good choice. It was made in the Czech Republic.
The fact that the Ledger Nano S Plus can’t be controlled by an iPhone may also be a problem. If this is important to you, you’ll have to pay more for a model that has Bluetooth ( Ledger Nano X or Ledger Stax).
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